The Omen 2 Was The Final Destination Of Its Day

1978’s Damien: Omen II has more in common with the modern Final Destination series than it might initially appear – including having the same evil force behind both films. The Omen series is one of the most iconic in all of horror, telling the chilling tale of a young boy named Damien who turns out to be the Antichrist. Even the name “Damien” took on a whole new meaning after the 1976 original, synonymous for horror aficionados with creepy children. The film would spawn three sequels, a poorly-received Omen remake, and a television series, as viewers were enthralled with the terrifying child. And while several murders in The Omen were committed by people, its first sequel, Damien: Omen II, instead does away with its victims in a series of grisly accidents.

Take, for example, the horrific elevator scene: after Dr. Kane examines Damien’s DNA and finds that he has biological similarities with a jackal, he finds himself in a rapidly descending elevator, before the elevator cable drops, bisecting not only the elevator car, but also Dr. Kane himself. While the state of special effects precludes the death from being particularly gory, Kane is cut clean in half, which was a shocking fate for 1970s audiences. While the implication is that Damien is an unstoppable force of evil who is – one way or another – willing these deaths to happen, it’s worth noting that there’s never an on-screen killer. In what was a rarity at the time, the victims portrayed in Damien: Omen II were being hunted by unseen forces.

If that sounds familiar, this is the basic premise of the Final Destination films. In each film since the 2000 original, a group of people narrowly escape a catastrophic accident that was prophesied, with Death hunting them down one by one to ensure they meet their fate. Over the last two decades, the films became synonymous with gruesome and increasingly complicated accidents, driving home just how insistent Death was on claiming Final Destination‘s victims. In Damien: Omen II, these exact same types of accidents claim the lives of those who would oppose Damien.

In both cases, the sheer terror is amplified by the fact that it’s, in essence, completely unavoidable. Damien’s wrath in Damien: Omen II, just like Death itself in the Final Destination series, is not of this realm. If one of its victims manages to somehow avoid death, it will simply find another way to do away with them. In typical slasher films, there’s a corporeal body that can be evaded or ultimately harmed, but in Damien: Omen II and the Final Destination films, there’s a distinct horror in the inevitability of death.

While the Final Destination series is known for its blood-soaked, Rube Goldberg-esque accident sequences, it was far from the first to toy with that formula. Damien: Omen II was shocking audiences with inescapable fatalities back in the 70s, proving the strategy to be time-tested and terrifying.

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